


Whispers from the Raven's Beak

by Newtclear



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood, Blood and Injury, Body Horror, Horror, Psychological Horror, Spoilers for Episode: s01e18 Agony of a Witch, Spoilers for Episode: s01e19 Young Blood Old Souls, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:01:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27005518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newtclear/pseuds/Newtclear
Summary: If just yesterday, you had asked Lilith where she saw herself in five years, she would have said it would be serving in the Emperor’s Coven side-by-side with her younger sister, Edalyn...
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	Whispers from the Raven's Beak

If just yesterday, you had asked Lilith where she saw herself in five years, she would have said it would be serving in the Emperor’s Coven side-by-side with her younger sister, Edalyn. All of those hopes and dreams had died the very instant Emperor Belos, her former mentor, had made it clear he had no intention of honoring his promise to break the curse upon Edalyn. It was difficult, having the last few decades of hard work come crumbling down around you all at once. In less than a day, she had gone from the leader of the Emperor’s Coven to a renegade witch. It all felt...

Like a bad dream.

Yet there she was, lying on a dirty couch in her younger sister’s home with every aspect of her future looking bleak and uncertain. Lilith could hear the residents of this place, the Owl House, discussing what to do with her as though she weren’t present. Since her eyes were closed, perhaps they thought she was asleep. 

“We can’t trust her,” said a small demon covered with black fur and a beastly skull upon his head. "What if she’s still in cahoots with Emperor Belos? She absolutely can not stay here!”

“You don’t know that! She risked her life to help save Eda. I say we let her stay, she’s family,” said the human girl.

Family? Her? Lilith’s gut twisted like a knot at those words. After everything she’s done, did she truly deserve to be called family? 

“ _Quiet_ , both of you!” proclaimed Edalyn, Lilith’s younger and far more capable sister. 

Whatever words were spoken after that, Lilith didn’t hear them. She tuned them out. No part of her wanted to hear how this discussion would end. If they kicked her out, she would have nowhere else to go. If they let her stay, she would be nothing but a burden. These painful truths were enough to turn the noise in the house to nothing more than a constant, ringing static in her ears. Static that slowly faded as, somehow, Lilith drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Lilith opened her eyes, she wasn’t entirely convinced they weren’t still closed. The entirety of her vision was nothing more than darkness: a black expanse with no end in sight. A cursory glance downward, however, revealed her eyes were indeed open wide; as she could see her body as though there was a faint, disembodied light above her. Lilith opened her mouth to speak, to ask aloud where she was, but no noise came out.

Was this an effect of the curse that now afflicted both her and Edalyn? The absolute silence was unnerving, and the endless void beyond her was chilling. Just then, as she stepped forward, something materialized before her.

A door. A strangely familiar door.

At first, Lilith can’t quite place why it seemed so familiar. Yet as she pushed it open, she realized right away why it was familiar. It perfectly resembled a door in her childhood home. What’s more, on the other side of this door was the bedroom of her younger sister. Various posters were hung up on the wall, several odds and ends scattered across the floor. And there, lying in her bed, was a teenage Edalyn.

“This isn’t a dream,” Lilith thought as a chill went down her spine, “ _this is a memory._ ”

Reliving this moment of her life was worse than any nightmare she had experienced. As her body crept closer toward Edalyn, Lilith tried everything she could think, but it wouldn’t listen. Why would it? This was a memory. Memories can not be changed. Their outcome is predetermined. Held prisoner in her own body and forced to watch the biggest mistake of her life again was unbearable.

An indescribable pain pressed down upon Lilith’s heart and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as the scroll disintegrated. A blinding mass of white light exploded forth from where the scroll had been. This brilliant, yet terrible light swallowed everything in the room. It burned her fingertips, singed her hair, and scorched her eyes. Just as the pain overwhelmed Lilith...

She woke up.

Still on the ratty couch in the living room, but now caked in sweat, Lilith was trembling. To regain her composure, she took several breaths. It was nothing more than a nightmarish vision: an effect of the curse, and nothing more. At least, that’s what she told herself. Though that did little to ease her mind when she realized everything in the room had changed.

The entirety of the Owl House’s interior had become faded and nearly devoid of color. Was she still dreaming? Lilith pinched herself as hard as she could, then winced when her nail dug into her cheek. Although it was nothing more than a surface level cut, it still stung. The warmth from a drop of blood clung to her finger. If she was dreaming, it was certainly realistic.

“Edalyn?” Lilith asked aloud. She walked over to the doorframe leading upstairs and peeked around the corner. “... Human?”

There was no response.

Lilith hurried across to the other side of the room and threw open the front door. “Edalyn?! Human?!”

Nothing.

As her words echoed through the stagnant air outside, she realized that it wasn’t just the Owl House that had changed: the world around her had changed as well. The Titan was covered in a vast blanket of fog while, in the sky above, the moon shined a sickly blue. Something was very wrong. As she turned to close the door, she noticed something else. The security system, commonly referred to as Hooty, was no longer there. In its place was a strange symbol that vaguely resembled the glyphs used by the human. This strange glyph was very basic: composed of three circles with lines pointed outward within a single, much larger circle. Stranger still, the glyph was glowing a bright red color. An alarming thought crossed Lilith’s mind as she traced a finger over the outer circle. Were the changes affecting the Owl House and, by extension, the Titan caused by this glyph? She couldn’t be certain at the time, but she memorized the glyph before heading back inside.

Alone in the house, Lilith paced back and forth. 

“What could have caused this?” she muttered, “Illusion magic would explain the visual changes but not the disappearance of Edalyn, the furball, or the human. This couldn’t _possibly_ be what Emperor Belos had planned for the Day of--”

Just then, the sound of a creaking floorboard came from upstairs.

“--Unity..?” 

Lilith retrieved her staff and rushed over to the doorframe, then scanned the stairway. Yet the only thing out of place was a single orange feather upon the stairs. It hadn’t been there earlier, Lilith was sure of it. Even if she had been distracted, she would’ve noticed the brightly colored feather against the faded wood stairs. As she knelt to pick up the feather, the sound of a door creaking open came from further upstairs.

Sparing no time, Lilith rushed up the stairs with her staff at the ready. Several more orange feathers dotted the floor, leading to an ajar door at the end of the hall. She followed the trail and cautiously pushed open the door. Based on the scattered papers, mismatched decorum, and oversized bird’s nest, it was Edalyn’s bedroom. In the room, lying inside the nest, was a massive lump covered in orange feathers. Whatever it was, it seemed to be crying.

“...Edalyn?” Lilith cautiously reached out but jerked backward when she realized something was off.

The crying echoed, or at least seemed to, as this massive lump rose from the nest, standing over ten feet tall. It was unnaturally long, with gangly legs resembling those of a bird, and three razor-sharp talons on each. On the left side, its arm was vaguely humanoid and covered with errant feathers. On the right side, its arm was as thick as a tree trunk and covered in innumerable talons. This enormous beast, cloaked in a shroud of orange feathers, turned to face Lilith: revealing several owl heads upon a malnourished humanoid torso. Then, all at once, they stopped crying and let out a bone-chilling screech.

Lilith had never seen anything like this; no beast or abomination in all the Boiling Isle was this hideously deformed. Whatever it was, she knew it was dangerous. With a swift motion, she drew a small glowing circle in the air in an attempt to cast a powerful bolt of lightning. Instead, the circle fizzled out: dissipating into flecks of grey dust. Undeterred, and unimpressed, the monstrous owl-like amalgamate charged at Lilith.

Almost immediately after her spell failed, Lilith ran out of the room and slammed the door shut. Unfortunately, that did little to dissuade the monstrosity as it tore through the door with its talon-covered arm in seconds. Splintered wood blew past Lilith, several pieces narrowly missing her. Lilith flinched, only for a moment, before she turned around and rushed toward the stairs. The monster followed close behind.

Lilith made her way back into the living room while the monstrosity, due to its immense size, was momentarily stuck in the doorframe. This opportunity wouldn’t last, and Lilith knew that, so she attempted to capitalize on it as best she could by overturning furniture to barricade its path before making a run for the front door. As she swung the front door open, she heard the sound of reckless destruction and frenzied weeping behind her.

Though Lilith’s magic had failed her, her wits were still sharp as ever. She ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the monstrosity’s talon-covered arm as it broke down the front door. The sheer force of its attack, combined with the forward momentum, caused the monster to tumble forward and out of the house. Lilith turned on her heels and ran back up the stairs.

“What is that thing?” Lilith muttered as she struggled to catch her breath, clutching her staff tightly while using it to steady herself.

Without magic, Lilith had no chance of winning a fight. She had to hide, but where? None of the rooms were safe as, even if barricaded, those doors couldn’t withstand an attack from that monster. Out of the corner of her eye, Lilith spotted a small rope dangling from a hatch in the ceiling. An attic might be an unpleasant place to hide, but it was preferable to standing out in the open.

A forceful tug of the rope caused a ladder to unfold from the hatch, and Lilith immediately climbed up. After pulling up the ladder, Lilith used this moment’s reprieve to investigate her surroundings. The fairy lights, though flickering irregularly, illuminated everything in the room. Unsurprisingly, the attic was a complete and utter mess. On the far side of the room was a work desk which, although small, was covered with piles of loose papers and tattered books. A lone, overturned wooden stool laid in the center of the room where a familiar figure sat beside it. 

“Is that..?” Lilith approached the figure, staff drawn. “Human? Is that… you?”

The figure resembled Luz, but something was wrong; every part of her person had become faded and grey. She looked up from her notes and acknowledged Lilith, though her tone seemed melancholic at best. “I can’t talk right now, I have to keep studying.”

“ _Study?_ At a time like _this_? Hu--” Lilith bit her lip, then corrected herself, “Luz, aren’t you aware of that monster running loose through the house?”

“Of course, but I can’t do anything to stop it,” The tone of Luz’s voice sounded bleak as she explained, “I’m not strong enough…”

“Not strong enough? Luz, you single-handedly fought your way through the Conformatorium, went toe-to-toe with Emperor Belos, and survived! You are plenty strong!”

“No, I’m not. I can only do four spells...” she tapped one of the papers, activating a glyph that created a small orb of light, “Real witches can cast dozens, if not hundreds, of spells. I-I-I’ll… I’ll never be a real witch.”

“Luz, I--”

Just then, an ear-splitting screech came from outside that shook the entire house. Across the room, looking into the attic through the circular bay window, was the monstrous owl-like creature. Lilith quickly grasped the orb of light and hid it behind her back while Luz curled into the fetal position and covered her ears. Whether through dumb luck or Lilith’s quick thinking, the monster had not yet spotted them.

“Luz,” Lilith tried to remain quiet as the orb of light burnt the palm of her right hand, “I know how you must feel, but right now my magic isn’t working, so you have to--”

The owl-like monstrosity let out another blood-curdling screech, causing Luz to whimper.

“You have to do something,” Lilith said.

“No, I can’t… I can’t…” Luz shouted, tears streaming down her face, “ _I’m **not** good enough!_”

Having heard that outburst, the owl-like monster reeled its talon-covered arm back and slammed it through the bay window: which scattered shards of glass across the room. Completely paralyzed with fear, Luz couldn’t move a muscle. Hiding didn’t work. Running didn’t work. Lilith had run out of all other options and had no choice but to fight. Acting purely on instinct, she threw the orb of light at the monster. The monster was momentarily distracted, which gave Lilith just enough time to grab a shard of glass off the floor.

She had seen the glyph a handful of times and was confident she could recreate it from memory. Lilith hastily carved the light glyph into a large section of the floor. Right as she finished carving the glyph into the floor, the monster lept into the room. As it touched down, so did Lillith’s staff, activating the glyph. In an instant, the entirety of the attic was enveloped in a blinding flash of white light that sent the owl-like monstrosity reeling backward. Lilith ran forward and, with all her might, slammed into the beast. It stumbled back, tripped, and fell out through the window.

She watched, perturbed, as the monster fell two stories downward before hitting the ground below with a sickening crunch. Blood pooled beneath the monster as it writhed and squirmed: based upon its strained weeping, it sounded like it was suffering. Could that monster even feel pain? Lilith almost felt sorry for it as she watched it whimper and whine, as though it were begging for help. In a few short moments, the owl-like monstrosity stopped moving and fell silent.

As she walked across the room, avoiding the broken glass as best she could, Luz approached Lilith and asked, “I-is it… is it d-d-dead?” 

“I believe so,” Lilith sighed with relief, “are you alright?”

“W-what about you?”

“No worse for wear, but I could use a--” Lilith gripped her staff with both hands, then immediately reeled her right hand backward. Having been lost in the moment, she failed to notice the injury she had sustained; several burns across her palm were accompanied by a gash that was oozing blood at an alarming rate. “--a bit of medical attention, it seems.”

The two of them relocated to the washroom on the second floor of the Owl House, where Luz tried to treat Lilith as best she could. She used a rag soaked with isopropyl alcohol to clean the wound, then started the arduous task of wrapping Lilith’s wound. At which point, Lilith explained what had happened thus far--omitting several details.“And then I woke up on the couch and everything had changed. What about you? How did you get here?”

“I… I d-d-don’t know,” Luz’s voice faltered as she turned away, Despite having learned this standard procedure from her mother, Luz struggled to do it right. The gauze became tangled and bloody with each failed attempt, “I’ve b-been here for w-w-weeks…”

“Weeks? That can’t be right, you were in the living room before I fell asleep.”

“I-I was?” Luz paused as she grew increasingly frustrated, her expression soured, and she continued. “I was, yeah, b-but I was here too.”

Lilith cocked her head to the side, flummoxed and speechless. It didn’t seem like the human girl was lying; why would she? Yet if she was telling the truth, the only way she could have been in two places at once was by utilizing an illusion spell. If Luz had an illusion spell, why had she not used it during her excursion to the Conformatorium? It felt as if the more questions she asked, the more unclear things became. 

“That seems… impossible. You know that, don’t you?” Lilith ran a hand through her hair and loudly groaned, “It sounds impossible, but I believe you. I don’t know you very well, but I know you are not a liar.” She was prepared to write all of this off as one long, horribly vivid nightmare, the injury she had sustained felt far too real to be anything but reality.

“T-thanks.” Luz smiled weakly as she had finally made headway in properly wrapping the gauze.

With Lilith’s wound fully dressed, she and Luz left the washroom and stepped into the wreck of a living room--or rather, whatever was left of it from the monster’s attack. Pictures frames had fallen off the wall and cracked, candelabras broken, the carpet torn to shreds; it looked as though it had been ransacked. Lilith headed straight for the door and swung it open, but before she could take a step outside, something tugged on her robe. 

Lilith looked over her shoulder and saw that it was Luz--and, based on the child’s frightened expression, she didn’t want to be left behind. It was a difficult decision to make in an extremely dangerous situation. With the monster dead, the Owl House seemed like the safest place for Luz to stay, but that assumed there were no other monsters that could make their way here. On the other hand, there could be far more dangerous monsters lurking in the fog that now blanketed the Boiling Isle.

“Please, don’t leave m-m-me alone here.” Luz pleaded, her bottom lip quivered.

“I’m sorry, but it is safer here than it is out there.”

“W-w-what if more m-monsters come? W-what then?”

Lilith knelt to eye level with Luz, placed a hand on the child’s shoulder, and said, “If that happens, then I want you to hide.”

“W-w-what if they find me?!”

“Then fight them off.”

“I-I can’t do that! They’re big m-monsters and I’m just--”

Frustrated, Lilith interrupted Luz before she could finish that particular thought. “You are one of the most capable young witches I have ever met. I don’t know where all this self-doubt is coming from, but some witches have lived for decades and accomplished less than you have in just a few weeks.”

“...Really?”

“Really.” 

Lilith mustered a warm, albeit half-hearted smile. Luz didn’t say a word and instead, a delicate smile crept across her face as she pulled Lilith into a hug. It had been so long since the last time she had hugged someone, Lilith had almost forgotten how to reciprocate the gesture. Hand over hand, she wrapped her arms around Luz and held her close. The moment passed, and the two of them said their goodbyes. And so, Lilith stepped outside the Owl House and made her way through the woods and onward to Bonesborough. Lilith had no idea what was waiting for her out there, but she was confident she wouldn’t find answers if she lingered there any longer. 

Once Lilith was out of view, the strange glyph on the front door of the house glowed brightly and then Luz’s body turned into a black, tar-like substance and dissolved.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is a huge change of pace from my other work, but I haven't quite been in the headspace for a sweet 'happily ever after' and wrote this to get the nasty thoughts out of my head and onto paper. I have started working on the last chapter of "Of Hearts and Hexes" though, so it might be out soonish!


End file.
